Urban & Civic and North Herts Council do not appear to have considered the impact of the road changes on Baldock's businesses, shops, cafes, restaurants and pubs. Yet they're key to Baldock's strong sense of community. They shouldn't be an afterthought.
The changes are likely to deter visitors to the town coming from the North: from Ashwell, Biggleswade, Bygrave, Hinxworth, Newnham, Radwell and Stotfold. Knock on traffic may deter those that are dependent on their cars - particularly older residents and families with young kids - who may struggle to walk or cycle in.
Baldock's businesses are only mentioned briefly in the Masterplan. Urban & Civic say that a key objective is to support "existing businesses to grow and new ventures to be brought to the town, providing jobs and opportunities" (page 36) and that "increased footfall will support the heart of the town and its diversity of shops and businesses" (page 7). But the Masterplan also makes clear that it will take 15 years to build and fill the promised houses, and the road changes will be made at an 'early phase'.
They say they consulted "business representatives" (page 18) but Baldock does not have a single organisation representing businesses views. We want to make sure that Baldock's shops, cafes, restaurants and pubs know what is proposed, and that our councillors made a decision fully armed with the facts.
This is what we learned at the drop-in session on 12 July 2025:
Dominant driver is to push traffic out of the town early-on and free up road space
There has been no analysis of the economic impact or likely changes to footfall
Urban & Civic are relying on North Herts Council to understand the economic impacts - but no-one is responsible for gathering the evidence or modelling the impacts.
Little understanding of Baldock as a hub for surrounding villages or any reliance of hairdressers, barbers, restaurants, cafes, and pubs on outside custom.
Some recognition in discussion that the traffic impact will see a "step drop" in custom from the time of the intervention in 2027, while replacement custom will be gradual over 15 years.
Little understanding of how sensitive businesses may be to a drop in custom - "if we see a significant drop off in custom, we could always think twice about further interventions".
Alternative road access to Baldock for the new development, Bygrave and Ashwell - linking to Royston Road - will not come until 2033 / once the first 900 houses have been built and filled.
Urban & Civic plan to submit their planning application in September. We were heartened that Urban & Civic do want to engage but we have very little time to intervene.